It's tough enough winning a doubleheader. When you win two under pressure the way No. 4 Arundel did yesterday, there is only one thing to say:
They earned it, and that might be an understatement.
The Wildcats had to win a pair to take the South Division title and earn a spot in Wednesday's 7 p.m. county baseball championship at Northeast High against top-ranked Old Mill (18-2), the North champion.
Arundel (16-3) swept South River, 18-7, and Annapolis, 9-8, to finish 8-2 in the South tied with No. 10 Severna Park (13-6). Severna Park outlasted Broadneck, 10-9, in a home run derby yesterday to finish 8-2 in the division, but Arundel wins by virtue of the tiebreaker.
Annapolis (3-12) gave Arundel a scare in the nightcap, but was guilty of five errors, two balks, three wild pitches and two passed balls, enabling Arundel to win with only four hits, two by Brian Lane.
Arundel was forced to use ace Kurt Light for 3 2/3 innings to win the game. Light was scheduled to pitch Wednesday's championship. But first things first. You can't win tomorrow if you don't win today.
The Wildcats had a better overall record in all county league games, 14-2 to Severna Park's 11-5. Arundel went 6-0 against the North, while the Falcons were 3-3.
Wednesday, Arundel will go for its 16th county baseball championship since 1969 and the 15th under 24-year head coach Bernie Walter.
The Wildcats' day began on their field shortly after 2 p.m. with batting practice and it ended a little after 10 p.m. at Joe Cannon Stadium in Harman's.
After Lane, who was 5-for-6 with eight RBIs, two doubles and homer in the twinbill, led the Cats' disposal of South River (4-13) in the first game, Game 2 was in jeopardy because of an electrical problem with the lights at Arundel.
Walter put in a call to Cannon Stadium and was fortunate it was open and the Cats packed up along with Annapolis and headed over to Harman's. What was supposed to be a 7 p.m. start for the second game turned out to a be first pitch at 7: 45 p.m.
Annapolis jumped on the Cats in the first inning with three runs highlighted by Kurt Bradshaw's first of two doubles that drove in two. Arundel got two back and scored three times in each of the second and third innings on the Panthers' sloppy play to build an 8-4 lead.
Arundel took a 9-6 lead into the seventh only to have Light run into control problems and walk the first two batters. They later scored on an error and fielder's choice before Light struck out the last two batters to end the game.
Hoping for Arundel to lose one, Severna Park was led to victory by junior Pat Boucher, who got the win in relief of Darryl DeSalvo. Boucher also belted a pair of two-run homers to tie the state record for homers in a season with 10.
Boucher came on for the Falcons in the fourth with two outs and went the final 3 1/3 innings for the victory.
Pub Date: 5/06/97
